Celebrating Spontaneous Composition, Buffalo-style

'Off-Script Sundays with Jeff Miers' Debuts April 19 at Penny Lane

Musicians get into the game for a variety of reasons, some of them noble, some of them less so. But at the core of a life in music is the desire to explore, to strive toward freedom of mind and body through music, and maybe even, on occasion, achieve some sort of state of transcendence. Generally speaking, attaining this heightened state can be difficult to achieve if a script, or even a strict setlist, is being followed.

Realizing this led me to the creation of Off-Script Sundays, a new monthly matinee series at Penny Lane (10255 Main Street, Clarence) kicking off this Sunday, April 129, at 4 pm.

The plan is to present performances that explore improvisation from a variety of vantage points, including but not limited to jazz-based approaches, exploratory rock, and even completely non-idiomatic forms of improvisation. Jams, in other words.

The core goal of the series is to provide a platform for emerging Buffalo-based artists and seasoned veterans alike to develop their work in real-time, with an audience sharing in the journey.

There’s a backstory here, and that backstory involves a Buffalo drummer, Damone Jackson, and a legendary area guitarist, George Puleo, who together launched a conceptual band hell-bent on discovering new music in the moment, one spontaneous composition at a time. That band, the Damone Jackson Outcome, has evolved over the past 8-plus years into an absolute powerhouse, one that has radically altered the musical landscape of Buffalo, created a new high-water mark for regional musicianship, and through its ongoing Tuesday residency at the Central Park Grill in Buffalo, birthed a community of loyal, open-minded listeners eager to take a ride into territories uncharted with the band.

Attending these DJO shows over the years has been a transformative experience for me - an experience that planted the seeds for Off-Script Sundays long before I mustered the fortitude to take the leap and go for it.

I’m hoping this series will be breeding ground for new conglomerations of musicians, and that some of these one-off pairings lead to the birth of new bands and new musical concepts.

I’m hoping to learn something new about myself and my musicianship in the process.

And I’m hoping that musicians and members of the music-loving community will find a welcoming vibe that makes them want to return to spend an afternoon with friends and music community members on the 3rd Sunday afternoon of each month.

The series will consist of a rotating group of artists that perform 30-45 minute sets. Diversity will be encouraged and celebrated. Genre lines will be willfully blurred.

For the Off-Script Sundays series debut on Sunday, April 19, two ensembles will perform, with the potential for some open-ended cross-over to cap things off.

First, OWMN - an improv-based group consisting of John Olivier (drums), Erin Ward (guitar), Jeff Miers (guitar) and Ryan Nogle (bass) - will make its public debut with a set of exploratory rock and progressive sounds. Oishi, a new progressive jazz quartet, will follow with an improvised set of their own.

I encourage new artists to come out and play at these shows. If you have any interest, or want additional information, send me an email at jeffmiersmusic@gmail.com.